Fallacy: Concept, Causes, Manifestations, Ruling and Identification Methods from a Jurisprudential Perspective

Abstract

This study intends s to explicate the notion of fallacy and closely-related terms, highlighting the rule of using fallacy in jurisprudential reasoning and inquiry. It also aims to identify fallacy causes, manifestations and identification methods. The study consists of an introduction, four chapters and a conclusion. The first chapter deals with fallacy as a concept and its related terms. The second chapter discusses the Fiqh ruling on fallacy. The third chapter reviews the causes and manifestations of fallacy. The fourth chapter focuses on the techniques for fallacy identification. The study concluded that fallacy means that a person finds fault with another one. The accused person may be faulty in doing harm to others. It was also revealed that the claimant may deliberately falsify the respondent drawing his attention to the fault, or that the claimant may sense and find fault with the respondent in the course of argumentation and reasoning. The study stressed that jurists and scholars should have the skills to detect fallacy instances and respond based on the type of fault and the way of response in totality so as to avoid fallacy and its use.